Ladner: Village Afloat

I've been dithering for a few weeks over a series of photos from several of our visits to Ladner, wondering which, if any, to post here. While some, I think, are beautiful and peaceful, others ... well, let me start at the beginning.

I first visited Ladner with my kids back in 1978. It was a sleepy village just south of Richmond; a few shops, a few houses, docks and fishboats; we were charmed by it, and visited several times. I even considered buying one of the floating houses at Canoe Pass.

North end of the canal

In recent years, Laurie and I drop in frequently. There are the dykes to stroll along in fall and winter, to watch the flocks of shorebirds and marvel at the sunsets, Reifel Migratory Bird Sanctuary beyond the farms on the west, walks on the marshlands, an annual antique fair and village market days, bookstores, the harbour with all its activity, and a decent little cafe where we have an occasional lunch. All very pleasant, if not the village I knew back when. Now there are also malls, housing developments, traffic lights (and jams).

But it is a community in peril. Not, as Finn Slough is, from developers (well, that, too) but from natural causes. Weather. Water levels. Climate change.

This spring and summer, we've been poking around the harbour and marina. On the south side, swallows nest in the mud banks and catch mosquitoes over the water. An eco-tour boat glides down the river or rests at the dock. Kayakers paddle upstream. (Here is a gallery of photos from WestCoast Paddlers; well worth the time to view.)

Between the boathouses

Looking upstream from the pub landing. The Eco-tour boat is that one with the blue canopy.

It's a busy little harbour, a hodge-podge of boats, docks, sheds, log booms. The occasional swan drifts by and there is usually a family of paddling ducks.

Looking downstream

Shed and boats

A giant steel float, about 5 feet across. Another photo.

So where's the problem? I'll get to that, in the next post.